Fighting fit at 93 (From Oxford Mail)

Fighting fit at 93

5:30am Wednesday 31st December 2008 in

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A 93-year-old thinks he has discovered the secret to his ripe old age – a strict diet of just fruit and vegetables and an army-style fitness regime.

Super fit Ernest Lee, of Garth Road, Didcot, swears by his lifestyle which he has been perfecting for almost two decades to keep himself in tip-top condition.

The spritely pensioner said he was forced to change his diet after his wife, Louisa, died 20 years ago, aged 77, leaving him to fend for himself. He also said exercise helped keep his diabetes in check.

Partially-sighted Mr Lee, who will be 94 in a few weeks’ time, and whose idols include marathon winner and Olympian Paula Radcliffe, enjoys a gruelling hour of exercise every morning, including press-ups, sit-ups and weights. The former Army boxer narrowly escaped death during the Second World War when a tank he was travelling in North Africa drove over a mine.

He said: “Every morning when I’ve had my breakfast I go upstairs to my bedroom, which is like my gym, and I do exercises for an hour. I think it keeps me alive to tell you truth, it opens up my veins and arteries. When you’re as old as me, there’s not much else to do anyway. I have to stay alive for my cat, you see.

“If it wasn’t for this diabetes I would probably live to 150. There are people 20 years younger than me who sit around in geriatric wards or in a home doing nothing. I’m not like that.

“I cycled to work for 30 years when I was an instrument technician at Harwell.”

The grandfather added: “I just can’t cook like my wife did, and fruit and vegetables is all I know how to do.

“She was a lovely chef and she used to cook me beautiful food. Her pastry and the way she would roast meat was out of this world. I tried to copy what she did, but when I took it out the oven you could hit it with a mallet and it would not have broken.

“I can knock up a bit of grub, but I often have to scrape it off into the bin, so I thought I would to stick to what I know.”

didcot@oxfordmail.co.uk